Blackheath’s Nick Foster targets win over his former club Old Albanians

BY GRAHAM COX

Blackheath travel to Hertfordshire tomorrow for what could, even at this early stage, be one of the defining matches of this season’s National League Two East campaign.

The Club have taken maximum points from their four games and head the table. But right behind them, just one-point adrift and with the same number of victories, are Old Albanians, their next opponents.

Blackheath have paid five previous visits to The Woollams, all while residents in National League One.

They were victorious on three of them, the last time in 2018 when current head coach James Shanahan made a successful return to the club he had previously coached and played for in two separate spells over a period of six years.

Tomorrow will mark the first opportunity for Club full-back Nick Foster to revisit the club he joined as a five-year-old and remained with until 2018.

Foster is an OAs old boy in the truest sense of the term, having also attended St Albans School, around which the rugby club was established in 1924.

“The rugby club actually came before the school for me,” he explained.

“I began with the U7s and worked my way right through the age groups, and then came back at weekends while at university to play for the second and third XVs.”

Foster also played alongside current team-mates Jake Lloyd and Sam Isaacs at Nottingham University.

After graduating with a degree in geography he returned to OAs and held down a regular first-team place.

Over four seasons he made 71 league appearances and scored 34 tries.

He also added a handful of games for Hertfordshire in the County Championship, and even made a one-off appearance for Wasps in the Premiership Cup, to add to a tour of Georgia for England Counties U20s among his accolades. Then came time for a change.

“I knew Shanners well from OAs, and he’d moved to Blackheath and a couple of other team-mates had gone there with him,” said Foster.

“With my career in advertising technology I had moved to living in South London, so it seemed like the obvious switch to make.”

A serious leg injury, followed by Covid, blighted his rugby career for a while, and the 2021-22 season did not go as Blackheath would have liked, with relegation from National League One.

This term Club have scored no fewer than 30 tries in their four matches. Although Foster can only claim one of them as his own, he has been instrumental in the build up to most.

By moving up into the three-quarter line, he injects pace and width into Blackheath’s attacking play. Add a safe pair of hands under the high ball, and a decent boot, and he has all the attributes required at full-back.

“I started out as a scrum-half, and tried to convince Shanners I can still play there, but I got 40 minutes there recently and it was exhausting,” he joked.

Not that Foster lacks energy.

He likes to play squash, cricket, and golf. He comes into tomorrow’s game having just returned home from a week trekking across Iceland with his partner Amanda.

“One day I’ll make an appearance for the OAs Vets, as I’ve played for every other side from U7-U18, fourth to first teams,” said Foster.

“That will complete the set. But, for now, that can wait.’

Blackheath return to Well Hall to face Guernsey on October 22.

PICTURE: ANDY WANSBURY